HAPPY MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO DAY

H. B. Paksoy

Published in Journal of American Studies of Turkey 6 (1997): 89

Most Americans tend to think that the Turkish Republic is named after a bird. As
one result, quite a few Turks in the US, at one time or other, had to answer the
question "What do you Turks eat during Thanksgiving?" This query is especially
heard during November of each year, as Americans prepare to observe the
quintessentially American holiday.

The homeland of the fowl known as Meleagris gallopavo or americana sybestris
auis, is the North American continent. The 1494 Tordesillas treaty, forged by the
Pope in Rome, granted the monopoly of commerce originating from the newly
discovered continent to the Portuguese (as opposed to the Spanish). The
Portuguese brought this fowl to their Goa colony in India. Circa 1615, Cihangir
(a direct descendent of the founder of the Mughal empire in India, Babur
[1483-1530] himself a grandson of Timur [d. 1405] wrote his Tuzuk-u
Jahangiri (Institutes of Cihangir). In his book, Cihangir also described
this fowl in detail replete with a color drawing. Since Meleagris gallopavo
resembled the Meleagris Numida commonly found in Africa (especially in Guinea),
and already known in India, the former became known in British India as the
"Guinea Fowl" (see O. Caroe, "Why Turkey." Asian Affairs. October 1970).
Meleagris gallopavo was then introduced to Egypt, a province of the Ottoman
empire and entered the Turkish language as "hindi" (from India). When traders
took a breeding stock from Ottoman ("Turkish") Egypt to Spain and the British
Isles, the bird was designated "Turkey."

As a result, the pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock in 1620 were familiar with
"Turkey" when they encountered it in their new home. After the 1776 Declaration
of Independence, Benjamin Franklin suggested that "turkey," native of the land be
designated as the symbol of the young American republic. Instead, Haliaeetus
Leucocephalus (Bald Eagle) was given this honor.